That Awkward Thruway Moment

I’ve had my license for five years now and have driven various stretches of the NYS thruway countless times.  Yet I have still not figured out the easiest way to gather the appropriate amount of money to pay the toll when I get off.  Right now, I always drive the same stretch of the thruway which does make things easier because I can get the money together before I leave home, but then what do I do with it?

 

Obviously, I can’t hold onto the money while driving because that would require extreme coordination that I do not possess.  Leaving the money in my wallet is out of the question because then it takes too long to get it together again when I get to the toll booth.  I am left with leaving the money in a cup holder.  It’s there, but it’s still not in my hand when I pull up to the toll booth.

 

Upon exiting the thruway I am forced to gather every ounce of coordination I have in order to drive the curve of the exit ramp while getting all the money out of the cup holder and locating the ticket I picked up while entering the thruway.  Oh, and not to mention, paying attention to the road and making sure I wind up in the right lane at the toll.  And of course the coins refuse to be picked up.

 

Once, I accidentally gave the toll booth operator a penny instead of a dime and began to drive off.  Luckily I was still close enough to hand her the correct change when she noticed.  Is there any easy way to do this?  Does anyone not feel extremely awkward while attempting to gather correct change to pay the toll?

 

I really should just get an EZ-Pass.

That Would Have Been Embarrassing…

Last night I returned to my apartment after hanging out with friends all day.  I grabbed something to eat and settled in to watch an episode of Grey’s Anatomy on my laptop.  Then I noticed that my Wi-Fi network was not there.  One glance at the router and the modem and I saw that there were not any blinking lights on either device.  I was definitely not pleased about this development but decided to watch an episode of the Vampire Diaries instead because my roommate has the first season on DVD and wants me to watch it.  It definitely looks like a good show.  I would then call Road Runner in the morning and ask them to fix my Internet.

 

However I pushed the power button on the TV only to find that that did not work either.  I was utterly confused because the power was not out.  Then it dawned on me that the TV, modem, and router are all plugged into the same power strip.  I found another power strip in my room and proceeded to switch the plugs over.  Then I noticed that there was a switch on the old power strip and figured I couldn’t possibly break it anymore than it already was, so I flipped it.  Success!  The modem and router immediately lit up and the TV worked once again.

 

I’m positive that Baxter must have flipped the switch at some point during the day.  I’m so glad that I found that out before calling Road Runner.  It would have been really embarrassing to have them send a guy over only to tell me that my power strip was turned off…

I’ve Seen it All

Now I can honestly say that I’ve seen it all at work.  Today a guy came through my line without any pants on.  He was wearing a very short pair of blue boxers and a winter coat.  His wife was with him.  I did not realize it until he was walking away, but by that point all the other cashiers nearby and the other customers were staring at him.  I can’t even begin to imagine what was going on in this guy’s mind.  It looked like he forgot his pants, but if that was true, why wouldn’t his wife have told him?

 

Apparently one of the security guys talked to him after he bought his groceries and the guy said that they were shorts, not boxers, but the security guy told him that they were boxers and he needed to wear real pants while in the store.  I mean, they were so short and thin that they were beyond inappropriate to be wearing in public.  And it was cold and snowy!  Why the heck would he even want to?

What Grade Are You In?

Today’s blog is brought to you by work, like much of the blogs in the following two weeks will probably be brought to you by.  Today a customer asked me what grade I was in.  I realize I look younger than I am, but really?  The funniest part is that I actually know her.  She’s one of my sister’s friends’ mom.  I used to help with their girl scout troop.  So I just said ‘I’m in grad school’ and she was completely baffled.  It was quite funny.

 

This past summer the theme was ‘where do you go to school?’ And I would reply ‘I just graduated’ and they would assume I meant high school.  Then I would say ‘oh, I just graduated from college and am off to grad school in the fall’.  It would completely stun people.  I may look like I’m 16 but it certainly provides for good entertainment at work.

30 Things I’ve Learned in College

My blog has been sorely neglected this past semester, partly because of Twitter and mostly because of the obscene amount of work I have had to complete to finish my last semester as an undergrad.  Yes, graduation is upon us.  I will graduate on Saturday the 15th and I really have no idea where the past two years have gone.  Since these are my last few days as an undergrad, I figured I would list some of the things I have learned throughout the past four years.  I partly owe the idea of this to Tori as she posted a similar entry about what she learned in her freshman year.  Some of these are from my commuting days and others are from the past two years where I’ve lived on campus.

1. Driving in rush hour traffic sucks.

2.  Never park in the main parking lot at my community college.  It will take 20 minutes to leave said parking lot.

3.  Always have a spare umbrella.

4.  No matter how far apart your classes are, it is never worth it to drive home in between them.

5.  When gas prices start going upwards of $4 a gallon, it is time to transfer to a school where you can live on campus.

6.  Driving with a Uhaul on the Thruway is an experience not like any other.

7.  Packing said Uhaul, driving a half hour, and then realizing you’ve forgotten something is most definitely a family bonding exercise.

8.  Textbooks will drain your wallet faster than gas for your car.

9.  Never buy textbooks at the campus bookstore.

10.  Half the time you will not even use your textbooks.

11.  If there is a dumpster outside your window, invest in some ear plugs.  Said dumpster will be emptied at 6am.

12.  3am fire drills on your second night in the dorms will be something to complain about the next day and laugh about for the next two years.

13.  It will be 90 degrees on move-in day and 15 degrees and snowy on move-out day.

14.  Invest in a fan.

15.  Dining hall food gets old after the first two weeks.

16.  Do not eat more than one slice of pizza at the college fast food joint in one sitting.

17.  Whipped cream is fun for eating straight out of the can and spraying at your roommates.

18.  Never take an 8am class.

19.  Teachers swear and tell you about their personal lives.  This is more interesting than their lectures.

20.  The best time to do laundry in the dorms is early Monday afternoon when everyone is in class.

21.  It IS possible to burn soup.  And frozen veggies.

22.  Subway is your best friend after you run out of money on your meal plan.

23.  Writing a 2 page paper is nothing.  And one can be cranked out in less than a half hour.

24.  Good ratings on Rate my Professor do not necessarily mean the teacher is good.

25.  Professors get the best parking spots.

26.  Dorm Wi-Fi is slow at best and nonexistent at worst.

27.  The same class taught by two different professors can be like two completely different classes.

28.  Facebook is the ultimate distractor.

29.  Breakfast before morning class just does not happen.

30.  Having your computer break two weeks before the end of the semester with all of your final papers on it is equivalent to the world ending.

I’ve seen a lot in college and the past two years especially have been amazing.  I’ve made the best friends ever and had a ton of fun.  We’ve laughed, we’ve cried, we’ve seen a guy pee on the RA’s door.  Crazy, fun, and I kind of wish it wasn’t ending.  But hey, I’m not done yet.  Off to grad school next year!

Benny, Meet Benny

Yesterday my dad told me about Benny’s encounter with himself.  Apparently he decided to jump up and put his front paws on the sink counter in my parents’ bathroom.  There’s a huge wall size mirror above the sinks and as soon as Benny jumped up, he noticed the ‘other dog’ in front of him.  He stood there for a bit just staring at himself and then when he decided to jump down, he saw the ‘other dog’ doing the same and stopped.  He kept watching the ‘other dog’ doing everything he did and then he started growling.  I wish someone had gotten it on video so I could have seen it.  I’m going to try to get him to do it again the next time I’m home and if it works I’ll definitely get a video!

I Love Being a Psychology Major

Every student begs for extra credit at least once during the semester, usually after you bomb a test or write a truly atrocious paper.  You usually hope for a one page write up of some extra lecture someone is giving on campus, or an extra homework assignment or something.  Anything that will help boost your grade.  It doesn’t matter what it is or how long it takes, most students will do anything for a few extra credit points.

 

I am no stranger to the begging for extra credit thing.  I do it all the time.  It’s just a bit different for me, being a psychology major.  Sure, I’ve done the occasional extra paper or movie write-up, but most of my extra credit does not involve anything more strenuous than circling numbers on a survey.  Nearly every single psychology professor I’ve had will give us an extra credit point for participating in some sort of study another professor is running.  I’ve had my grade boosted an entire letter grade just for agreeing to be in a few studies.

 

Yesterday I got an email from my Animal Behavior professor.  She’s still sick and told us that if we wanted to get an extra point tacked onto our final grade at the end of the semester, all we had to do was show up to class today and fill out a survey.  Seemed easy enough, so I went.  The research assistant passed out the survey and it took me ten minutes to complete.  The class is an hour and a half long.  So not only do I get an extra credit point, I got to have nearly an entire class canceled.  Ten minutes for a point?  Yep, totally worth it!

 

I love being a psychology major.

Professor’s Away, Students Will Play

Today I walked into Animal Behavior and the Psychology Department’s secretary was standing in the front of the room.  My professor had canceled the last class and the one before that didn’t take place because of mid-semester break.  So we hadn’t had class in nearly two weeks.  The TV projector was on, so I figured the professor had given the secretary some sort of movie for us to watch.

 

I was right.  The secretary put the movie in, stood in the doorway for about ten minutes, and then left.  Then everyone took out their phones/laptops and started to go online, text, and talk.  Hardly anyone was really paying attention.  I was on Twitter and AIM on my iPod and was Tweeting about all of this.  About halfway through the movie, one person just got up and left.  Another girl fell asleep.  A few minutes later two more people left.  Then three more left.  It was really funny.  My friend whom I was IMing told me to leave, but I wanted to stay to find out how many people would leave.  No one else left and the girl who had been asleep woke up.

 

At one point the movie screen when blue and then it got really fuzzy.  Everyone started talking and when it fixed itself a minute later, everyone groaned.  We left as soon as the credits started rolling, though.  I was impressed by how many people actually stayed for the whole thing.  Only six of about 40 people left.

I’m Such A Yank

Last night I was video chatting with a few of my friends from LeakyCon.  I was telling everyone that Chik-Fil-A had this deal a while ago where if you wore your favorite sports team’s jersey, you’d get a free chicken sandwich or something like that.  I read about it on MyLifeIsAverage.  I wished there was a Chik-Fil-A near me so that I could wear a Chudley Cannons (Quidditch team) jersey and get a free sandwich for it.  Hence why I had to tell my Harry Potter friends about it.

As I was telling the story, one of my friends started cracking up.  Apparently I have been pronouncing Chik-Fil-A wrong ever since I first heard about it.  I had been prouncing it Chick Fill Uh.  She told me it’s pronounced Chick Filet.  Then she told me I’m the most Northern person and I’m such a Yank.  She used to live sort of close to me, but she recently moved to North Carolina and she lived down South when she was younger as well.

I’m glad she told me.  Now if I ever go to a Chik-Fil-A, I won’t pronounce it wrong.

They’re Mocking Us

The other day I walked through my college’s main quad and looked at the light up sign thing that the college government uses to advertise their school sponsored programs.  It had been blank for days.  That day it said ‘Have a good summer!’  I wonder who decided to put that up.  Everyone was able to see it as we were trudging our way to class, summer well behind us.